Towns use marketing to create, promote identity

Village President Dave Krienke had an identity crisis last month.

Walking the trade show floor of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Chicago, watching hometown boosters from dozens of cities and villages extol the virtues of their little pieces of the state to big-name retailers, Krienke realized something about Roscoe.

No one really knew where it was. They knew Machesney Park, Rockford and even South Beloit.

Roscoe wasn’t on the radar.

Krienke’s dilemma is one faced by suburbs and exurbs, big towns and small cities all over the state, said Larry Frang of the Illinois Municipal League. It’s such a problem that it’s given birth to a cottage industry of experts, consultants and book authors who are paid to tell people the best way to market their town to the world. “The question is ‘How do I make my town of 8,000 people that’s connected to two expressways different from every other town of 8,000 people that’s connected to two expressways?’” Frang said. More here.